


Stay The Night With You (And I Think You Really Want Me To)

by winnix



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Teen Partying, Underage Drinking, somehow between all the multiple houses they could crash at there is always only one bed!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winnix/pseuds/winnix
Summary: The first clue is this: Fabian stayed with him through the whole night, maybe because he pities Riz, maybe because he was too drunk to leave, or maybe because he somehow knew Riz wanted him to stay. The second clue is that Riz just had a better night of sleep than he’s had in a long, long time.The third, and most worrying clue, is that Riz is starting to dread the prospect of having to go back to an empty bed once Fabian leaves.
Relationships: Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 22
Kudos: 299





	Stay The Night With You (And I Think You Really Want Me To)

**Author's Note:**

> contains some (parent/guardian supervised) underage drinking, mentions of drug use (mostly by jawbone), canon typical injuries being dealt to gilear (but im nicer to him than brennan is), and a few characters getting their kisses in 
> 
> title is from stay the night by jukebox the ghost

At some point in the night, Riz ends up with a bed sheet wrapped around him like a toga, which he reasons might make the _entire_ party a toga party, though he isn’t sure whether just one person in a bed sheet could really constitute a full blown “toga party.” Then, a few minutes later, Gorgug wanders past, a bed sheet draped across him as well, and Riz realizes that yes, this has in fact become a toga party. 

Well, technically it’s a going away party for Tracker and Ragh. There’s even a banner strung up, with "GOOD LUCK RAGH AND TRACKER!" written on it in big, block rainbow letters. Though it could be more accurately described as a combination Happy Graduation/Surviving Another Year At Aguefort/Going Away party. And now, evidently, a toga party as well. 

Jawbone, of course, was more than happy to host the party at Mordred Manor, considering the fact that the majority of the Bad Kids, including Tracker and Ragh, already lived there. Besides, he had said, he’d rather have everyone drink and experiment safely with the drugs of their choice in the house, where he could help if needed. This, of course, had caused him to launch into a rather graphic story of the time he’d talked a friend through a viciously bad trip in the middle of the desert, while he himself was high on a drug he’d gotten from a wizard, who he described as “a nice guy, despite the manslaughter charges.” 

Riz understood. I mean, they’d all killed a few people along the way. 

The night of the party, Sandra Lynn was playing the role of the Responsible Adult, which she seemed to genuinely enjoy, sipping her club soda and winking at Fig every time she caught her dancing with Ayda. Fig was blushing furiously, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Gilear, inexplicably, was also in attendance, and had somehow been roped into telling the majority of the Owl Bears team about his brief stint in the Pride armor (penis injury and all.) 

It was perfect, Tracker frequently assured her friends. Ragh seemed too excited to remain coherent for long enough to express his gratitude, but everyone got the idea.

Now, Riz is tugging at the bed sheet with a puzzled expression, wondering exactly how it ended up wrapped around him in the first place. 

“Whose sheets are these?” Riz calls to Gorgug, whose arm is currently wrapped around Zelda’s shoulder as he listens to the Seven Maidens recount another story from their spring break escapades. Over Zelda’s head, Gorgug shrugs. 

“So then, Penny LEPT onto this thing, like grabbed onto its back and everything! You should’ve seen her!” Riz sees Ostentatia gesticulate wildly as she talks, trying to demonstrate with her hands just how insane Penny’s move was. 

“It wasn’t _that_ impressive,” Penny shrugs bashfully. 

“Oh, shut _up_ ,” Antiope shoves her friend lightly in the shoulder, “it was incredible.” 

“Yeah, well, what about when Sam…”

“With that _spell_!” 

The entire group dissolves into excited chaos again, Gorgug clearly hanging onto every word. Riz grins, distracted enough that he doesn’t even realize when a shot is being pushed into his hand by a beaming Fig. 

“Drink up!” She commands with a wink. Riz rolls his eyes but obeys, downing the shot and trying his best to ignore the awful taste that follows. 

“Yes! Loving this energy tonight!” Fig squeals excitedly before ducking into the crowd once more, tray of shots in hand, on the hunt for her next victim. 

Riz socializes for a while, chats with Penny for a bit, and takes a few more shots (mostly at the behest of Fig.) At some point, he catches sigh of Ragh, the culprit behind the togas, grabbing a few more sheets and making quick work of the rest of the Bad Kids, wrapping them in white until half the room is decked out in in the makeshift robes. Even Gilear is included, though the bed sheet he’s wearing is somehow already very badly stained. 

“So, what’s with the togas, do you think?” 

Riz glances down from his perch on the banister of one of the Manor’s staircases to find Fabian, gazing up at him from a few steps below, red solo cup in hand, a lopsided smile on his face. 

“You know, I’m not sure,” Riz laughs, gesturing his chin towards Fabian’s very own sheet wrapping. “Yours looks great though.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself, The Ball,” Fabian nods, looking Riz up and down like he’s seriously appraising his outfit. Riz hops off the banister, stumbling slightly as he does, shaking out his sheet with a flourish. 

“I mean, it’s no 80,000 thread count elven sheet, but it’ll do,” Riz says with a shrug. Fabian nods seriously, though Riz can still detect the traces of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

“You know, my grandfather grew to like you, in the end,” Fabian says, “or at least, when I mentioned you in my last letter, his response didn’t mention how much of a dick you were.”

“You wrote to your grandfather about me?” Riz asks. Fabian clears his throat, suddenly very interested in this floor by his feet. 

“I, uh…might have mentioned you. I mean, I mentioned everyone,” he shrugs. “I was just… well, I was telling him how lucky I feel that we all survived the forest, that’s all.”

“Right,” Riz murmurs quietly. “By the way, I don’t think I ever thanked you for, you know, not letting me plummet to my death that one time.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Fabian says, meeting his eyes once more. 

“I know, it’s just…” Riz pauses for a moment, trying to find the right words. He remembers the moment so well, though he assumes that has a lot to do with how many times he’s replayed it in his head. The wind roaring in his ears, the ground rushing up to meet him, and suddenly - the heat of the fire elemental, the blanket tugging him upwards, and the way he landed in Fabian’s arms, outstretched and ready to catch him. He remembers so distinctly how it all felt, the sensation of weightlessness being suddenly replaced with the feeling of being held, as if Fabian was reminding him that he was still real, that he was still _there_. 

“You ok, The Ball?” Fabian asks, snapping Riz out of his train of thought. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Riz murmurs, a bit embarrassed to have been caught practically daydreaming about a move his friend made in the midst of a battle. Fabian watches him carefully for a moment, before downing his drink, swift and sharp, as if he’s bracing himself for something.

“I did tell my grandfather about you,” Fabian begins, and if he was anyone else, Riz would’ve thought his voice sounded a bit…shy (though that couldn’t possibly be the case, not with Fabian.)

“Oh,” Riz nods, not wanting to press for details. 

“Just…ok, this is going to sound stupid, but you just have to let me say it, alright?” 

Riz just nods, suddenly feeling like he is standing on very precarious ground, hovering over a massive precipice below. 

“When you shot Kalina…it just made me think of Prom, and how you killed Kalvaxus,” Fabian shakes his head, laughing slightly to himself, “It was like, two entirely different scenarios, I know, but still…it felt kind of like deja-vu. Like, here I am again, watching Riz save the day.”

“That’s insane,” Riz shakes his head, “I didn’t ‘save the day,’ we _all_ -”

“I know,” Fabian says with another small chuckle, “we all killed Kalvaxus and Kalina. It’s just…I went through so much of my life thinking I had to be this huge hero to live up to my father. Like if I wasn’t taking up all the space in the room I wasn’t really there at all. But now…”

“Now?” Riz asks, voice cautious.

“Now sometimes I just think how lucky I am to be able to watch _you_ be the hero,” Fabian finishes. Riz stares at him, eyes wide. He wonders briefly if all of this is some weird dream, like he took one too many shots and is actually passed out in the yard somewhere, drooling all over himself. He resists the urge to pinch his arm, just in case. 

“Fabian…” Riz begins, “I’m not a hero. I just…did two cool things. Like, two cool things in a whole life of me doing a lot of very _uncool_ things.”

“That’s not true,” Fabian insists. 

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” Riz shrugs. “The point is, I’m only able to do those things because I’m doing them with you…and with our friends. Besides, _everything_ you do is cool.”

Fabian scoffs at that. Riz can practically see the images going through his friend’s mind; Captain Whitclaw and his terrifying maw, waking up in the sea on the verge of drowning, meeting Alastair Ash again in Hell. 

“Look…maybe cool isn’t the right word,” Riz begins, shaking his head, trying to will himself to think straight through the thin haze of alcohol, “it’s more like…like everything you do makes me wanna be a better version of myself. I mean, seeing you dance, or fight, or protect our friends. It’s like…it’s like you have this light inside of you and it just makes everything else around it brighter.”

Fabian is staring openly at Riz now, his lips slightly parted. Riz wonders if he’s just accidentally said something stupid, or wrong, or sounded like a drunken idiot. He wouldn’t put it past himself. In a rush of panic, he goes to brush past Fabian on the stairs, but he stumbles and stops short, one arm reaching out and clutching at Fabian’s shoulder to steady himself. Riz realizes with a rush that, at that moment, he’s taller than Fabian. The realization sends a weird sort of thrill through him, like he could get away with anything simply because Fabian is forced to look _up_ to meet his eyes. 

“Riz?” Fabian asks, his voice quiet. Riz stares at him for a moment, his toga sliding down his shoulder slightly. Riz moves to adjust it, but Fabian is one step ahead of him, shifting the makeshift strap back up onto his shoulder. For a moment, everything stops. Riz vaguely recalls the party where Aelwyn froze time, though this time it feels like it’s just him and Fabian who are left out of the spell, as if everything else around them has ground to a halt. Fabian stays there, with his hand on Riz’s shoulder, and opens his mouth to speak. Riz feels a bit insane, like he could swallow fire, or spread his arms and start floating off the ground. Instead, something large and glass crashes in the background and Ragh shouts. Fabian jumps back, the heat of his hand suddenly a ghost on Riz’s shoulder. 

“I should uh…”

“Go see what Ragh just broke?” Riz suggests with a small laugh. Fabian nods, but he doesn’t meet Riz’s eyes. Without another word, he slips back into the party again. 

Kristen finds Riz a few moments later, still tucked away on the stairs, observing the party from afar, trying to make sense of the past few minutes in his muddled brain. 

“Hey, man,” Kristen grins, settling in next to him. 

“Hey Kristen,” he smiles, accepting the red solo cup she hands him, “uh, what is-”

“We’re calling it Fig’s Special Fire Punch,” Kristen explains. Riz stares down at the red liquid in the cup, which seems to be emitting a soft sort of glow. He frowns slightly, taking a sip. He immediately feels warm all over, and his tongue hurts, but it’s not unpleasant. 

“Interesting,” he nods, wincing slightly as the aftertaste hits the back of his throat. 

“I think Ayda helped a bit, which is why it’s you know…drinkable,” Kristen says, taking a sip from her glass as well. 

“I’m gonna miss Ragh and Tracker…” Riz says after a moment, watching his friend carefully. Kristen nods, but doesn’t say anything, just gazes out over the crowd like she’s trying to spot an old friend, someone difficult to find. It’s moments like this where Riz can look at his friend and really see her as a _saint_ , can practically picture her with a small glowing halo behind her ponytail. 

“Yeah,” she sighs after a moment’s pause, “it really fucking sucks, actually.” 

She pauses for a moment, then looks at Riz and smiles.

“I mean, I really, really love Ragh,” she says. Riz lets out a surprised laugh. 

“Me too.”

As if on cue, Ragh comes barreling into the room below, Fabian under one arm, Gorgug under the other, shouting at the top of his lungs about the legacy of the Owl Bears and the great responsibility now on their shoulders. Fabian catches Riz’s eye and mouths a desperate _help me!_ Riz just laughs, chanting along with Kristen until the jocks are ushered into the backyard, probably for another keg stand. 

“Yeah, there’s no one who can replace Ragh,” Kristen affirms, grinning around the lip of her cup. Riz nods, taking another sip of his drink, watching his friend carefully. 

“Look, Kristen…” he begins, “I know being apart from Tracker is gonna be tough.”

Kristen shrugs, suddenly very interested in the contents of her drink. 

“It’s what she needs to do,” Kristen says with a small smile, “Actually, I’m really proud of her.”  
“I know,” Riz reassures, “but still, if you ever wanna talk. Or, you know, not talk. I’m here.” 

Kristen looks up at him for a moment, a small frown on her face, though there doesn’t seem to be any sadness or anger. Just a quiet sort of contemplation. 

“You know…I wasn’t sure if I was gonna tell you this but, uh…” she trails off slightly, her eyes sliding away to the crowd once more, “I saw what your greatest fear was. In the forest, I mean.”

“You did?” Riz asks, clearly taken aback. 

“Yeah. I saw everyone’s actually. It was only for brief moment, before I met Cassandra, when I was…I don’t know. Entering into the Nightmare King?”

“Oh,” Riz murmurs, feeling abruptly exposed beside her. “How much did you see?”

“It was more about what I _felt_ than what I saw,” she explains, “or…what I know _you_ felt.”

“Right,” Riz nods again, and suddenly he’s seized by the impulse to get far away from this conversation, far away from the memory of the forest and the mirrors and the loneliness that settled around him like a thick blanket. Before he can move, Kristen begins again, laying a hand on his forearm. 

“Riz, I need you to know something, and I want you to listen to me while I say it,” Kristen continues, meeting his eyes. Riz freezes, surprised by the solemnity of her expression. “I love you. Your friends love you, your family loves you, and I know you know this, but I still want to tell you, because sometimes you need to hear it. You aren’t secondary, you aren’t someone we just hang out with because you’re _useful._ We love you Riz, we all do.”

Riz is surprised to feel the hot prick of tears behind his eyes. He sniffs slightly, willing himself to calm down, and takes another sip of his drink.

“Uh, yeah, I know. I love you guys too,” he finally says. Kristen smiles at him, calm and wise beyond her years. “Thanks, Saint Kristen Applebees.”

Kristen cringes slightly at the title, laughing and bumping Riz with her shoulder.  
“I mean…I don’t think I love you in the same way _Fabian_ does, but…”

“What?” Riz demands, but Kristen just laughs, standing up and ruffling his hair slightly (something his friends have taken to doing since the loss of his hat.)

“Oh, you’ll figure it out,” she grins, “and thanks, Riz. It’s always nice to feel less alone.”

With that, Saint Kristen Applebees disappears back into the party, her shadow swallowed up by the flashing lights once more. 

Riz gets very, _very_ drunk. Like, it would be embarrassing if everyone else at the party wasn’t also so fucked up. Ragh passed out in the backyard about an hour ago, and someone had been kind enough to throw a blanket over him. Gorgug had started a game where he handed people his axe, and if they could lift it he’d have to finish his whole drink. Zelda stood next to him, half hidden from the crowd, but Riz could tell how much she loved when the axe dropped to the ground in someone’s hand and they had to down the rest of their drink instead. Tracker had disappeared halfway into her own going-away party, Kristen in tow, and Riz was sure no one would be seeing them again until morning. 

“Riz, baby!” Fig pulls Riz under her arm, having taken a break from her post as official party DJ. “How do you like my special drink?”

“It is, uh, really strong!” Riz shouts back over the din of the crowd. 

“I created a very specific formula,” Ayda smiles, her excitement evident, “to maximize flavor, mouth feel _and_ alcohol per liquid ounce in order to insure that the recipient get drunk quickly without all the unpleasantness of pure alcohol flavor.”

“Isn’t she the fucking best!” Fig shouts. Riz laughs, assuring his friend that her girlfriend is, in fact, the best. 

He finds Adaine not that long after that, seated on the steps of the manor’s large wrap-around porch, talking to a figure Riz can’t quite make out. He goes to approach her when the figure suddenly speaks, and Riz recognizes the voice as Fabian’s. Without thinking, he ducks into the shadows by the front door, trying to make himself as small as possible. 

“I don’t know, maybe I’m being dramatic,” he hears Fabian say. Adaine giggles quietly. 

“I mean…you _are_ a bit dramatic, Fabian,” she says. 

“Oh, shut up,” Fabian retorts, but even from his position, Riz can tell he’s smiling. He can hear it in his voice. 

“In all seriousness,” Adaine continues, with all the composure of a wizard puzzling over a particularly difficult spell, “my sister is…well, my sister is a good person, deep down, I think. But she’s also a very traumatized person. And so are you. And that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time together but…” 

“Maybe it’s not the best for either of us,” Fabian finishes. 

“It’s up to you to decide,” Adaine says sagely, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my sister. But she’s still a handful, even if she isn’t a total evil bitch anymore.”

Riz can hear Fabian chuckle at that. 

“Thank you, Adaine,” Fabian mutters quietly. Adaine moves to stand, kissing her friend lightly on the cheek before heading down the front steps of the manor. 

“I’m gonna track down Zayn, make sure he hasn’t been totally terrorized by party-goers,” Riz hears Adaine say, and then, a bit louder, “and Fabian?”

“Yes?” Fabian asks. 

“Don’t worry about my sister, ok? Your first priority should be taking care of yourself, especially right now. Besides…I think she could use a bit of time to figure out herself as well.”

“Right,” Fabian says, and even though Riz can’t see him, he’s sure he’s doing that thing where he ducks his head bashfully, just like he does whenever someone shows him earnest affection. Riz can hear footsteps as Adaine heads around the house to the graveyard. Everything is silent for a moment. Slowly, he makes his way out of the shadows, ready to duck back into the party before a voice stops him.

“The Ball?” Fabian calls to him. Riz turns around, trying to make it look less he was just caught snooping and more like he’d just casually stumbled upon his friend. He isn’t sure how well he’s doing, considering how heavy and slow his limbs feel. He surprised to see a small smile tug at the corner of Fabian’s lips. “Are you…drunk?”  
“Maybe,” Riz murmurs, coming forward and trying to casually lean agains the railing of the porch. He slips slightly, and almost bangs his chin agains the wood. 

“Oh my God, The Ball,” Fabian chuckles, shaking his head, “you _are_ drunk!”

“So what?” Riz demands. 

“Nothing, it’s just…” Fabian trails off slightly, and Riz wonders if he’s drunk too, and just better at hiding it. Riz wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. He saw how many rounds of shots Ragh had him doing earlier, and also notices that the bedsheet Fabian had been wearing earlier had been lost at some point over the course of the party, leaving him in just his Owl Bears jacket, buttoned up over a tank top, and jeans. 

“What?” Riz asks, realizing he missed what Fabian had just said. He’s surprised to see a light blush color the tops of Fabian’s ears.

“I just, uh,” Riz watches with fascination as Fabian rubs the back of his neck, as if he’s embarrassed, even though Riz isn’t convinced that’s an emotion his friend can really feel. “I just said it’s cute, that’s all.”

“Being drunk?” Riz asks. 

“I mean…youbeingdrunkspecifically,” Fabian says, but the last few words come out so quickly Riz can barely process what’s being said. 

“Oh,” he nods slowly, trying to piece together a puzzle he feels entirely unequipped to solve. 

“Look, I was just about to head out, since I’m one of like…three people who doesn’t actually live in this house,” Fabian stands from the porch suddenly. As if on command (and Riz knows that it _is_ in fact on command), The Hangman comes rumbling up the driveway and stops short right by Fabian’s feet. Riz grins, remembering the hound that The Hangman had briefly transformed into, as Fabian reaches into the compartment under the seat and pulls something out. 

“Do you, uh…you need a ride home?” Fabian asks, holding a small helmet aloft. Riz doesn’t even question the fact that it’s the perfect size for him, just accepts it from Fabian’s outstretched hand. 

“You can drive this thing drunk, right?” Riz asks. 

“I’m not _drunk,_ The Ball,” Fabian insists, “but even if I was, The Hangman wouldn’t let us crash.” 

“Ok then,” Riz nods, putting on the helmet, “why not?”

On board, it suddenly feels odd to be riding The Hangman outside of combat. He tries to relax, and erase the paranoid thoughts from his mind, though he still eyes the bushes lining the driveway cautiously as The Hangman purrs to life and Fabian takes off into the night. 

At first, Riz tries to keep his hands at what he assumes to be a respectful, friendly placement. He is just loosely holding Fabian’s waist, but as Fabian begins to speed up, easing the bike onto the freeway, Riz is forced to adjust his grip, wrapping his arms fully around Fabian in order to keep from flying off the back of the bike. Elmville begins to fly by in a rush of light and color. Riz can feel Fabian’s ribs shudder under his hands. At some point, the bedsheet flies off of him, careening backwards into the night, leaving Riz feeling strangely cold and exposed in his button-up and slacks. He clutches himself closer to Fabian’s back. Fabian, either unconsciously or not, begins to speed up. 

Riz presses his forehead into the space beneath Fabian’s shoulder-blades and closes his eyes, until the world is nothing but the feeling of Fabian’s jacket against his skin and the sound of wind rushing past his ears. When he opens his eyes again, he tilts his head upwards towards the sky, the stars streaking light across the darkness as Fabian brings him home. 

When they arrive in front of Strongtower Luxury Apartments, Riz almost doesn’t trust his legs to carry him. Fabian cautiously helps him off the bike. 

“Are you alright?” He asks. 

“Yeah, fine,” Riz assures, even as he stumbles slightly. Fabian rolls his uninjured eye, though Riz knows his friend well enough to see when his frustration is really just fondness. In one fluid motion, he picks Riz up. 

“D-dude!” Riz sputters. 

“What?” Fabian demands. “It’s not like I haven’t carried you before.” 

“This is different,” Riz murmurs, feeling a bit ridiculous in his friend’s arms. Fabian just shrugs and carries him up the front steps of the apartment complex. 

The trek upstairs is not as easy. Fabian knocks over a whole vase in the front entry way, and this makes Riz laugh so hard Fabian starts threatening to drop him. The bridal carry transitions rather chaotically to a piggy-back about halfway up the stairs, and by the time they both get into Riz’s apartment, shushing each other repeatedly, they’re both laughing so hard they practically collapse onto Riz’s bed, sending a bunch of papers flying on the way down. 

“Shhhh!” Fabian insists. “We’re gonna wake your mom.”

“My mom isn’t here, dumbass,” Riz replies in an exaggerated whisper, “Bastion City, remember?” 

Sklonda had been attending a four-week long intensive course in the city on immigration law for the past month, one of the numerous steps she was undertaking on her road to becoming an immigrant rights attorney. 

Fabian nods, as if he vaguely recalls some of the details that Riz had shared back when his mom had started the course.

“Right, right,” Fabian murmurs, and then, after a pause, “wait, so you’ve been alone here this whole time?

“I mean, I spend a lot of nights at my office, so I’m not always _here_ ,” Riz says with a shrug, “but yeah…I’ve been alone.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Fabian asks, his tone suddenly very concerned. Riz rolls his eyes. 

“First of all, I did tell you about the class. Second of all, I don’t mind being alone. I have plenty to do here at night, and it’s not like I sleep much.” 

“Still,” Fabian murmurs, his face half buried in a pillow he had fallen on top of, “I would’ve kept you company. If you, you know…wanted company.” 

“Oh,” Riz says, genuinely thinking for a moment about the prospect of having someone with him in his home at night. He usually stayed up until the very early morning anyway, and often times passed out on the couch, a cold cup of coffee beside him and a bunch of papers half stuck to his cheek. Trying to make place for another person in that vision just didn’t fit. It didn’t make sense. 

There’s a pause. If he listens hard enough, Riz can hear the attentive purr of The Hangman beneath his window. A TV in the neighboring apartment is on, and Riz can hear the muffled voices through the shared wall, a low hum of background noise. It’s comforting. 

“You know, it _was_ weird for a while,” Riz begins, keeping his voice at a low hush, even though there’s no one else in the apartment to disturb, “to be alone again, after we all spent like…every moment together when we were traveling. The last time I was alone anywhere at night, before all that, Baron happened. So, to go from being with my friends all the time back to my office for the first time…it felt really weird. That’s all.”

“You should’ve said something,” Fabian says, his voice barely above a whisper. Riz just shrugs, suddenly feeling very vulnerable, like a child who just had to admit he’s afraid of the dark. 

“I’m fine on my own,” he says.

“I know,” Fabian says, his voice barely above a whisper, “but I wanna stay anyway.”

Riz shifts his position so he can look at Fabian without craning his neck, turned towards his friend like half of a parenthesis. Not trusting himself to speak, he just nods. The room is only illuminated by a faint light from the kitchen, bleeding in through the small crack of his barely open bedroom door. Fabian is all shadow, until he turns his face and the moon catches the lines of his cheek, making him look like he’s illuminated from the inside out. Riz can’t help but think of the side of his family that isn’t from the sea, but from Kei Lumennura, all the high elves with their strange music and long, flowing hair. Riz grins, and without thinking, brushes a bit of hair out of Fabian’s eye. Fabian stares at him, and for a strange moment, Riz is almost sure he hears his friend stop breathing. 

“Fabiaaan,” he says, drawing out the syllables just like his grandfather did. Fabian grins, his chest shaking with silent laughter. 

“Shut up,” he says. 

“What, you don’t like the way I said it?” Riz teases. He expects Fabian to laugh again, but instead his expression turns thoughtful. 

“I like the way you normally say it,” Fabian mutters, but he’s so quiet Riz can barely hear him. For a moment, he thinks his mind is playing tricks on him, presenting him with a version of his friend that isn’t really there. 

“Fabian,” he says, and this time, there’s no strange accent, just his own voice, quiet in the stillness of the apartment. 

“Riz,” Fabian replies. Riz is suddenly struck by the odd impression that they are two children sitting in a church together, whispering between prayers. Like if he touches Fabian’s cheek, he will feel the brittle pane of stained glass beneath his fingers, easy to shatter under his touch. After a moment, the feeling disappears, and Riz is back in his own body again. 

“We should go to sleep,” he finally says. 

“Yeah, ok,” Fabian nods and, before Riz can say anything else, shifts his posture and turns his back on him. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Riz whispers back. 

Riz doesn’t remember exactly how it happens, but when he closes his eyes, sleep comes all at once, and when he dreams, it’s of a large, warm light, casting itself over the curves of cliff-sides and then, eventually, the sea. 

When Riz wakes up, it’s to a series of rather frantic texts.

Adaine O'Shaughnessey _: Riz, do you know where Fabian ended up last night? We haven’t been able to track him down this morning._

St. Kristen: _rizzzz do u know where fabian is_

Gorgug aka Jorjuj: _Hey Riz! It’s Gorgug (from school and also from our adventures!) Have you seen Fabian today? No worries if not!_

Fig the Infaethable: _RIZ WHERES FABIAN HES NOT AT THE MANOR THIS MORNING AND HE ISNT ANSWERING HIS CRYSTAL LOVE YOU BYEEEEE TEXT ME!!!_

And then, about a half hour later -

St. Kristen: _wait a minute_

St. Kristen: _oh shit lol_

St. Kristen: _;)_

Riz wonders briefly why this wasn’t all communicated through the group chat, but when he goes to check, he realizes the entire chat has been flooded with pictures of the party, including one video of Gilear trying and failing to do a keg stand (which has been shared repeatedly, mostly to annoy Fig.)

Riz tenses up in bed, already knowing what is going to greet him when he turns around. He call feel Fabian’s steady breathing beside him. For a moment, Riz just stays there, totally frozen, trying to force his deeply hungover brain to start working properly. He needs coffee. And food, maybe, though his stomach churns unpleasantly at the thought. 

Beside him, Fabian hums slightly to himself and shifts underneath the blanket. Suddenly, Riz’s face feels very, very hot. 

Riz tries to do what he’s best at: he assess the situation like a crime scene. The first clue is this: Fabian stayed with him through the whole night, maybe because he pities Riz, maybe because he was too drunk to leave, or maybe because he somehow knew Riz wanted him to stay. The second clue is that Riz just had a better night of sleep than he’s had in a long, _long_ time. Usually he spends his night tossing and turning, waking up after a few fitful hours and getting right back to work without thinking. Now, he’s still lying in bed, even as the minutes tick by and the sun rises further and further in the sky. He feels…comfortable. 

The third, and most worrying clue, is that Riz is starting to dread the prospect of having to go back to an empty bed once Fabian leaves. 

As if he heard his name being turned over and over in Riz’s mind, Fabian begins to stir. Riz jumps slightly, trying to make it look like he too is just waking up. 

“Hey,” Fabian mutters, his voice hoarse and low with sleep.

“Uh, morning,” Riz replies. Fabian turns over slightly, craning his neck to look at Riz. 

“You alright, The Ball?” He asks. Riz nods, but Fabian doesn’t look convinced. 

“I have a headache,” Riz hopes that Fabian buys the excuse without much thought, considering just how drunk Riz had been the night before. Something is still clearly troubling him, but Fabian just nods, offering Riz a crooked smile. 

“You want coffee, don’t you?” He asks. Riz laughs despite himself.

“Yeah, I was gonna go make some. I think I still have some filters kicking around here,” he begins to get up, careful to not accidentally stumble and end up on Fabian’s side. 

“We could just go to Krom’s,” Fabian suggests. “I’m starving, and I’m pretty sure the only food you have here is crackers from the vending machine.”

“And cheese,” Riz murmurs. 

“If it comes from a can, it isn’t actually cheese,” Fabian snorts, which earns him a whack in the arm from Riz. 

“Shut up, we can’t all live off of a diet of caviar and kippers,” Riz retorts. 

“Ok, The Ball, diss kippers around me one more time and we’re gonna have a problem,” Fabian says with a huff, which just makes Riz laugh. 

“Let’s go to Krom’s,” Riz finally agrees. 

Riz gets changed while Fabian is in the bathroom, and when Fabian comes out, he stops short. 

“Are you…wearing a t-shirt?” He asks. Riz shrugs, pulling down the front of his shirt to examine it, trying to see if there’s a stain on it somewhere that he missed. All he sees is the logo for Fig and Gorgug’s band staring back up at him. 

“Uh, yeah?” He responds. 

“Times are certainly changing, The Ball,” Fabian grins, shaking his head slightly. Riz rolls his eyes, though he does feel a bit weird not wearing a vest or a shirt with buttons. 

“Can we go now?” 

“Yeah, ok,” Fabian says, shrugging on his Owl Bears jacket, looking very put together for a guy wearing the same set of clothes he went to a party and then spent the night in.

On the way back downstairs, Riz texts the group to them know that Fabian is alive and accounted for, and to meet them at the diner. Everyone responds in a flurry, and though most of the responses are just the video of Gilear again, he’s grateful no one questions how Riz ended up with Fabian in the first place. All except for Kristen who, without explanation, just sends him another winky face, and then -  
  


St. Kristen: _now we’re DEFINITELY talking  
  
_

Riz pockets his phone, and tries to ignore the growing pit in his stomach. 

At the diner, the whole group packs into a booth by the window, bumping elbows with each other as they order coffee and stakes of pancakes and eggs and bacon. Adaine looks particularly worse for the wear, wearing thick, dark-rimmed sunglasses over her eyes, even indoors.

“I am _never_ drinking again,” she insists, taking another sip of her (very pale, very sugary) coffee. 

“You had like…one shot. And a beer, I think,” Kristen says, looking up from the small wall she spent the last few minutes constructing out of jam packets. 

“Maybe drinking just isn’t your thing,” Fig says with a shrug, taking a sip of her own coffee (black and boiling hot.) Beside her, Ayda has already downed a full mug. “I think I still have some stuff from Leviathan kicking around for the next party, if you want,” Fig offers.

“I’m good,” Adaine shudders, “last time we took drugs, I-”

“Took a trip through your deepest and darkest nightmares?” Gorgug suggests. Everyone at the table turns to look at him. He pauses pouring syrup over the massive stack of pancakes in front of him. 

“Yeah, exactly,” Adaine nods.

“No drugs then,” Gorgug says, nodding seriously, as if making a mental note for himself. Adaine smiles, shaking her head slightly, clearly amused by her friend. 

“Besides, drinking on anti-anxiety medication isn’t the best,” she explains.

“I’m sure we can invent some sort of a substance that is both fun and safe to consume, while also taking into account your medication and your aversion to mind altering substances,” Ayda says. Fig slings her arm over the back of the booth, kissing her girlfriend on the cheek (which clearly leaves Ayda a bit flustered.)

“I would love that!” Adaine beams. “I’ve always wanted to experiment with more physical aspects of magic, like potions.” 

“It’s a plan!” Ayda claps her hand together excitedly. 

“Now we just need another excuse to throw a party,” Kristen grins, looking up from her jam fortress once more. 

“We don’t need an _excuse_ ,” Fabian scoffs, “we can throw parties whenever we want.”

“We can?” Gorgug asks sincerely. 

“Sure,” he shrugs. “I mean, Seacaster Manor is always an option…”

“Party at Fabian’s place!” Kristen beams. 

“Ok, maybe we should take a break before our next rager,” Riz suggests, signaling the waitress for another round of coffee as she passes their table. “I think Gilear is gonna be in that neck brace for a while.”

“I’m sorry, why is it assumed that we are we inviting _Gilear_ to this party?” Fabian asks. Everyone looks at him blankly. Fabian sighs. “Fine, ok, of course we’d invite Gilear. But, just for the record, most high school kids don’t regularly party with their friend’s parents.”

“Well, we’re cooler than most high school kids,” Fig says with a grin. 

“Is Gilear gonna be ok?” Gorgug asks. 

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Fig assures, “it’s not the first keg stand relatedly injury St. Owen’s has treated.”

“Ok, well, the next party we throw can be a ‘Congratulations on Getting Your Neck Brace Off’ party,” Gorgug suggests. 

“Or a ‘Sorry You Were Peer Pressured by a Bunch of Teens Into Doing a Keg Stand’ party,” Kristen adds. 

“Or a ‘We Need to Stop Hanging Out With Our Middle-Aged Vice Principal’ party,” Fabian finishes. Everyone fixes him with another blank look. “Fine! I guess it will be an ‘I Love Gilear’ party then!” 

“Yes!” Fig practically jumps out of her seat with excitement. Adaine laughs, which immediately brings on another headache, and she groans, clutching her forehead. The conversation lulls, everyone focused on their breakfast, but under the table, Riz feels a foot connect to his own. He winces slightly, looking up to see Kristen, who looks pointedly at him, and then at Fabian, and then back to him. 

“ _What?”_ He mouths. 

“ _Did you…you know…?”_ Kristen mouths back. Riz raises an eyebrow, clearly confused. Kristen sighs, her frustration evident, before preceding to make a series of rather lewd hand gestures. 

“ _No!”_ Riz mouths back, shaking his head furiously. Kristen just shrugs, leaning back in her seat and taking a sip of her coffee (sweetened with maple syrup, for some reason.) 

“What’s going on?” Fabian asks from beside Riz. 

“Nothing!” He and Kristen respond in unison. Fabian raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t press any further, instead returning his attention to a conversation with Gorgug about the summer training season for the Owl Bears. 

“I’m thinking we can incorporate my axe,” Riz hears Gorgug suggest. 

“Gorgug, we aren’t bringing your very precious and very dangerous axe onto the field,” Fabian says. “You might end up accidentally chopping down a goal post.”

“I have to go to the bathroom!” Kristen announces, standing abruptly. Everyone stares at her. 

“Is it…normal to loudly announce your intentions to go to the bathroom at the table?” Ayda asks. 

“Nope,” Kristen grins, shooting another pointed look at Riz. “Anyway! Here I go!” 

Riz watches Kristen head back towards the bathrooms, and with a sigh, stands as well. 

“I, uh…oh, whatever,” Riz doesn’t offer an excuse before following her. As he goes, he’s hears some discussion of proper bathroom etiquette begin back at the table with Ayda mentioning how uniquely horrible the bathrooms on a pirate city were. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Riz demands once he’s facing Kristen in front of the row of sinks. 

“Dude, you were _totally_ with Fabian last night!” She says. Behind them, a toilet flushes. A gnomish man exits the stall and washes his hands. Riz stares pointedly over his head at Kristen, who is clearly trying to hold back her laughter. Once the man leaves, Riz groans, leaning over a sink, his head in his hands. 

“Yes, ok, fine,” he mutters, his voice muffled, “Fabian…slept over at my place last night.” 

“Holy _shit_ ,” Kristen says, doing a very poor job of hiding the excitement in her voice, “I just wanna be the first to say, welcome to the family-”

“It’s not that like!” Riz insists, tilting his face up from his hands to look at her. “Nothing happened. He just spent the night. That’s all.”

“Oh,” Kristen says, and she looks genuinely confused, “why not?”

“Why would anything happen?” Riz asks seriously. 

“Aren’t you two like…in love with each other?” 

“No!” Riz straightens up, trying to keep his voice down. “Why would you say that!”

“Sorry!” Kristen raises her hands defensively, “I just…assumed, I guess. I mean, you two are always gazing at each other and stuff.”

“I don’t _gaze_ at people,” Riz says, crossing his arms defensively. 

“Riz, I say this with a lot of love,” Kristen begins, placing a hand on Riz’s shoulder, tugging him a bit closer, “you are, like, the most observant person I know. But sometimes? You are really dense.”

Kristen pats Riz’s shoulder firmly, offering him a sincere smile, and leaves the bathroom. Riz watches her go, his stomach in knots, and tries not to think too hard about the sound of Fabian breathing beside him in bed, still stuck in the back of his mind. 

Riz goes back to his office after breakfast, still intent on cleaning out some old Nightmare King files and creating space for whatever new mystery is bound to crop up sooner or later. Though he’d never tell his friends, he’s actually started clearing a bit of wall space for photos. Not of clues, or suspects, but of him and the people he loves - an old photo he found of his mom and dad, some snapshots of his friends, a polaroid of him as a child, clutching a large book in his hands. 

There’s one photo in particular he can’t help but zero in on whenever it catches his eyes. He doesn’t even remember when exactly it was taken, but it’s a picture of him and his friends at Basrar’s, all crowded onto one side of a booth, huge bowls of ice cream in front of them. Adaine has her arm around Kristen, the two of them sticking their tongues out at the camera. Fig is throwing up a middle finger, but she’s frozen mid-laugh, her eyes turned towards Gorgug, who’s grinning widely. In front of him sits Fabian, flashing a handsome smile, his arm slung over Riz’s shoulder. Riz stares at the photo-version of himself, caught off-guard and laughing. There’s a million things he wishes he could show his younger self: proof of his dad’s afterlife in heaven, essential clues that he wished he had known earlier, his official PI license. But he can’t help come back to this photo, and imagine showing it to a younger Riz, awkward and anxious in the worst years of middle school, and saying _Look! Look at the amazing friends you’ll make!_

Even if he showed his past self the photo, he’s pretty positive his past self wouldn’t believe him. He places the photo in the center of the wall and smiles to himself. 

He’s surprised when a small _ping!_ from his crystal snaps him out of his thoughts, alerting him to a text.  
  


Fabian: _hey._

Fabian: _look outside.  
  
_

Riz moves to one of the office windows, tugging it open and looking down onto the street below. Fabian waves his hands enthusiastically over his head, as if Riz might need help spotting him. Riz laughs, waving back to his friend. 

“What are you doing here?” Riz calls down. 

“Well, it’s 7pm and I’m just gonna go out on a limb and assume you haven’t eaten since breakfast,” Fabian calls back up.

“I mean…I’ve been really busy,” Riz replies, a bit embarrassed that somebody else has picked up on his horrible self-care habits. Fabian just chuckles, motioning for Riz to come down and let him into the building. Riz does, and when he greets Fabian at the door, he sees he’s holding a huge brown paper bag. 

“Cathilda made sandwiches,” Fabian explains, holding the bag aloft, “and cookies, I think.”

“Please thank her for me, then,” Riz grins, accepting the bag. Fabian nods, and for a moment just stands there awkwardly on the stoop. Riz wonders if maybe he’s having one of his weird mental conversations with The Hangman. 

“Can I…?” Fabian asks, gesturing into the building. 

“Oh! Uh…yeah, of course,” Riz steps back, letting Fabian inside. “C’mon, I’ll show you my office.” 

Fabian nods and follows Riz upstairs, and Riz is surprised that he doesn’t comment at all on the rather decrepit nature of the building. It’s certainly no Seacaster Manor, that’s for sure. 

“Look, my office is…” Riz trails off slightly before opening the door. 

“Chaotic?” Fabian asks. 

“A bit,” Riz admits sheepishly. 

“Uh, I’ve actually seen it before,” Fabian admits. “When you disappeared we all searched your office for you.”

“Oh,” Riz can’t help but wince slightly at the memory of Baron and the mirror. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have-” Fabian begins. 

“No, it’s fine,” Riz assures, shaking his head, forcing the thoughts out of his mind. Fabian opens his mouth, looking as if he wants to say more, but before he can, Riz opens the door and steps inside, gesturing for Fabian to follow. 

The self-consciousness only grows once they’re inside together with the door shut behind them. There are stacks of papers everywhere, a plethora of half-empty coffee mugs (a few of which Riz is pretty sure have started to grow mold) and there, right in the center of everything, his embarrassing photo wall. He can feel his face heating up, but Fabian just laughs, making a bee-line for the photos, his face all lit up. 

“Oh man,” he says, examining the pictures, “these are great, The Ball.”

“Uh, thanks,” Riz shuffles awkwardly in place, desperately wishing he hadn’t hung up quite so many baby pictures. 

“I love this one,” Fabian murmurs, and Riz can see he’s looking at the photo of them all at Basrar’s. 

“Me too,” Riz agrees. “I thought it was a bit embarrassing to hang it up though,” he admits. 

“What?” Fabian asks, as if he’s genuinely confused by Riz’s reaction. “Are you kidding? First of all, we all look amazing in this pictures. Second of all, this isn’t embarrassing. Embarrassing is like…Fig’s lock screen _and_ home screen both being different pictures of Ayda in one of her band t-shirts.”

“Oh my God,” Riz grins, “how the hell did you find that out?”

“I saw her unlock her crystal once,” Fabian says with a shrug. “Don’t tell her I know that, though. She’d kill me if she ever knew I found out how much of a softie she really is.”

“Oh please, we’ve all seen her with Ayda,” Riz laughs, “Fig just _thinks_ she’s good at hiding how in love she is.”

“We’ll let her keep her pride,” Fabian grins back. All the awkwardness has left Riz’s body and he’s finally feeling relaxed again, and strangely enough, a bit excited to have Fabian in his space. He likes Fabian, and he likes his office, so he doesn’t understand why he would mind the two being combined. 

“You hungry?” Fabian asks, gesturing to the paper bag Riz had set down on a table. Riz nods, and as if on cue, his stomach growls. “I _knew_ you hadn’t eaten since this morning!” Fabian points a finger at him accusingly. 

“Well, good thing I have you around to make sure I don’t starve,” Riz says, and for a moment, Fabian just looks at him, a strange and thoughtful expression settling across his face. Then, suddenly, he smiles, all warm and earnest, and for the life of him Riz cannot figure out why his insides go all soft at the sight. 

“Yeah,” Fabian says, “good thing.”

They end up eating and talking for way longer than Riz originally anticipated. The sun sets further and further in the sky, and eventually the streetlights begin to turn on. If Riz were to look outside, he would see the lights in the neighboring houses turn on, windows filled with signs of life. The night wears on, lights in windows turn off as people head for bed, and Riz doesn’t see any of it, too focused on his conversation with Fabian, as he finishes telling the story of one of his many birthday parties that was interrupted by pirates when he was a child. 

“I mean, the cake was totally ruined, but my father did bring me the head of the rival captain on a platter so…” Fabian recounts. 

“So you still would’ve preferred a cake,” Riz surmises. 

“Oh, absolutely,” Fabian nods, “I mean, I was six years old! I didn’t truly appreciate the significance of a conquered enemy’s head on a plate!”

“I think any six year old kid would prioritize cake over pretty much anything,” Riz says, laughing to himself at the imagine of a chubby-cheeked, six year old Fabian, pouting at the ruins of a grand chocolate cake, faced with a grizzled, decapitated pirate’s head. 

“Anyway, it was a few years before I had another party interrupted like that,” Fabian finishes with a shrug. 

“Well, I’ve certainly never had a party as exciting as yours were,” Riz says, trying to remember a single birthday party more eventful than a store-bought cake and a few balloons that his mom brought home.

“Well, we’ll just have to go all out for your birthday this year,” Fabian decides with a grin. 

“No pirates though,” Riz insists. 

“No pirates,” Fabian promises, crossing his heart seriously. 

“It’s getting late,” Riz says after a moment, glancing out the window, a bit surprised to catch sight of the moon, already high in the night sky. Fabian nods, but something in his expression makes Riz pause, as if he’s waiting for something. 

“Yeah, about that…” Fabian begins, “I was thinking…if you wanted, I could stay here tonight.” 

“You’d…wanna stay here with me?” Riz asks, thinking of how small and uncomfortable the bed he keeps in his office is compared to the massive, plush one Fabian has back at Seacaster Manor. 

“Yeah, I mean…I don’t want you to be alone, you know? Not if you don’t want to be,” Fabian says, though all of a sudden he seems to be having a hard time meeting Riz’s eyes. 

“I don’t mind being alone,” Riz reminds him.

“I know,” Fabain nods, “but…you don’t have to be.”

Riz hesitates for a moment, seriously considering the offer. It’s true that his office did get a bit creepy at night. It was hard not to jump at every small sound, and he was still unable to shake from his mind the image of something crawling out of the shadows. On top of that, he can’t help but remember how genuinely _well_ he slept the other night, how comfortable he felt with Fabian beside him. But something in his mind still makes him pause. He doesn’t want Fabian to start looking at him as someone who can’t take care of himself, who can’t even stand to be alone at night.

“Actually, uh, the truth is you’d be doing me a favor,” Fabian begins again, interrupting his thoughts, “there’s a lot of construction going on at Seacaster Manor. Drilling and…stuff. Very noisy.”

“They’re doing construction on your house at night?” Riz asks, a bit confused. 

“Yup!” Fabian replies, nodding enthusiastically, “All hours of the night. Makes it very hard to sleep.”

“Oh, ok,” Riz nods, trying to imagine what kind of construction they could possibly be doing on Fabian’s house, considering all the damage from the fire had been fixed ages ago, “I mean, in that case, you can definitely stay if you want.”

“Ok then,” Fabian nods definitively, and it’s decided. Riz lends him a toothbrush for the night (he bought his in a two pack,) and Fabian decides to sleep in the t-shirt he’s wearing, only because if Riz were to lend him any clothes, they would be uncomfortably small. Fabian offers to sleep on the couch (which is, at present, mostly covered in papers,) but Riz brushes that idea off, saying that they shouldn’t have trouble fitting into the one bed. Fabian doesn’t press, and Riz is glad, since he knows for a fact how uncomfortable falling asleep on the couch really is. 

It’s weird, at first, settling into bed together again. This time Riz is completely sober too, so there isn’t even the comforting dulling of the senses that alcohol can offer. He’s completely aware of every sound and movement that Fabian makes beside him. For a while, he just lays there, staring up at the ceiling, trying to breathe as quietly as possible. 

“The Ball?” Fabian asks, his voice hushed, barely audible over the dull hum of the fan. 

“Yeah?” Riz replies, trying to focus on keeping his body still. 

“Thanks for letting me crash here,” Fabian murmurs. 

“Of course,” Riz replies, and then, “I’m glad you’re here.”

There’s a brief moment wherein Riz realizes exactly what he just said, and he can feel his face growing hot. He suddenly feels as if he just revealed too much and allowed Fabian to see a part of himself that he’d kept hidden until now. 

“Me too,” Fabian says, breaking the silence, and Riz can tell he’s smiling, even in the dark. 

It goes on like that for a few days. Fabian will appear at Riz’s apartment or his office at some point during the evening, sometimes with food, and the two of them will sit and talk for hours. After a short while, Riz comes to expect it, throwing open his window when he hears the revving of The Hangman’s engine outside and calling down to Fabian on the street below. 

Sometimes Fabian will bring food for them, curtoutey of Cathilda, sometimes they’ll just eat ramen that Riz keeps around his kitchen, sometimes they’ll get takeout. Weirdly enough, Riz notes, they never invite anyone else to join them. The Bad Kids spend plenty of time together during the day, but Fabian never suggests inviting them to join when it’s just him and Riz, and the thought doesn’t really occur to Riz either. He’s started to like when it’s just the two of them. 

For a while, Fabian continues to crash with Riz, usually mentioning something about loud construction crews and water damage to his house, though the story sometimes changes (not that Riz really pays it much mind, he’s not surprised Fabian doesn’t know the ins and outs of construction work.) Then, slowly, Fabian just stops making excuses, and by the end of the week, Riz just expects him to stay the night without any explanation. It frightens him, really, how quickly he’s adapted to this new reality. 

Fabian brings take-out over one night from a pizza place that’s just opened downtown, and they spend most of the evening watching a movie while the sky steadily darkens outside and a storm begins to approach. 

“Will The Hangman be alright in the rain?” Riz asks, only half paying attention to the action scene unfolding on the screen in front of him.

“Oh, I’ll tell it to go take shelter back at the house or something,” Fabain assures, “now that Gilear is in the main house, the garage is totally free.”

“I guess we’ll have to throw that second party soon, huh?” Riz suggests, which earns him a grin from his friend. “I mean, the neck brace has got to be coming off soon.”

“Right, yes, a worthy cause to warrant a rager at the great Seacaster Manor,” Fabian says, sarcasm evident. 

“Will the construction be done by then?” Riz asks. Fabian hesitates slightly, setting down his half-eaten slice of pizza in front of him.

“Uh, yeah, definitely,” he clears his throat, not meeting Riz’s eyes. 

“Ok, good,” Riz nods, wondering why his friend has suddenly grow so evasive. Beside him, Fabian stubbornly keeps his attention glued firmly to the TV. Out of the corner of his eye, Riz can see a car explode on screen. For a moment, neither of them speak, Riz furtively glancing at his friend and Fabian raptly focused on movie in front of them. Riz is trying his best to stay alert, suddenly extremely attuned to Fabian’s presence beside him, but despite his best efforts, he can feel himself begin to doze, slowly but surely succumbing to sleep. 

When he wakes up, the credits are rolling on screen and it has started to rain outside. The whole apartment is flooded with a dull, blue light emanating from the TV. Riz opens his eyes slowly, coming back into consciousness in tune with the thin _pat pat pat_ of the rain on the window. He adjusts his posture slightly, turning to look at Fabian, half expecting him to be asleep as well. But he isn’t. In the blue light of the apartment, Fabian is looking down at his hands. 

“Fabian?” Riz murmurs, his voice hushed. Startled, Fabian turns to look at him, his hands unconsciously curling into fists in his lap. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Fabian tries for a grin, but it falters slightly. 

“You didn’t,” Riz says, examining his friends face, partially obscured by shadows. Fabian remains still beside him, and Riz mirrors him, not wanting to break the fragility of the moment by moving too suddenly.

“Are you ok?” He finally asks. Fabian stares at him for a beat, with an expression that reminds Riz of an animal caught in the headlights of a passing car. 

“I’m fine,” he assures, but before he can stand up and try to end the conversation, Riz reaches out and, in a rare moment of boldness, grabs his friend’s hand. 

“You can talk to me, you know,” Riz offers. Everything is still, Fabian turned to marble beneath his touch. Then, he takes a breath, relaxes his chest, and turns to look at Riz. 

“Sometimes…” he begins, and his voice is quiet Riz can barely here him over the mounting storm outside. “Sometimes I have to work hard to remind myself that I’m still here.”

“What do you mean?” Riz asks. He can feel the Fabian’s pulse beneath his fingers, still resting just above his friend’s wrist. 

“When we were in the Forest, there was this moment where I just…disappeared. Nobody could see me,” Fabian doesn’t look at Riz while he speaks, just keeps his gaze firmly fixed on the blank TV in front of them.

“You were invisible?” 

“No, it was more like…I just stopped existing. I could _feel_ everybody forget who I was, like an organ inside me had stopped working or something. That’s how it felt,” Fabian sighs, briefly closing his eyes. “ _I_ still knew I was there, but…I was trapped in a body that no one could see, that nobody even remembered had been there in the first place.”

“I can see you,” Riz speaks before he even realizes what he’s saying, “and it’d take way more than a stupid magic forest to make me forget who you are.” 

The moment the words leave his mouth, he wants to repeat them a million times over, or at least until Fabian hears them and actually believes him. Fabian turns his head to look at him. Outside, a sharp flash of lightning briefly cuts through the dark, and a low curl of thunder ripples through the sky. Riz realizes the storm is just overhead. 

“Thank you, Riz,” Fabian says. Right then, Riz feels like if he turns his eyes away from Fabian some physical part of him will shatter and break, something he didn’t even realize he was carrying inside himself. A moment passes, and then another. When Fabian breaks their gaze, it’s to turn back to the TV, schooling his expression into a portrait of nonchalance. 

“Wanna put on another movie?” He suggests, and though Riz can hear the waver in his voice, he doesn’t say anything. Just nods, and lets Fabian pick what they watch next. 

They fall asleep on the couch that night, Riz curled up on Fabian’s chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, and when Riz breaths, he breaths in time with it. 

When Riz wakes up the next morning, it’s to a text from his mother, letting him know she’ll be back home tomorrow. 

Fabian is sitting cross legged on the couch in Riz’s office later that same day, scratching notes on a small legal pad. Every so often, Riz catches him mumbling something to himself about the Owl Bears, how there’s some maneuver they need to try out, or that their defense needs work. Riz can’t help but find it a bit endearing, watching Fabian scrunch his brow in concentration. 

“Summer training going well?” Riz finally asks, rising from his desk to take a peak at Fabian’s notes. 

“Oh, yeah,” Fabian perks up, a bit surprised by Riz’s sudden interest, “it’s going really well, actually. I mean, Gorgug is a beast on the field, but Ragh graduating left a big hole. We’ve recruited a few kids from Oakshield though. They still need to put in a lot of work before they’re anywhere near field ready, but they’ve got the spirit.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Riz assures, feeling very out of his element, unable to offer anything more than vague encouragement. Fabian still grins at him though, which makes Riz’s chest suddenly feel very warm.

“You’ll come see our games?” Fabian asks. 

“Well, I’m pretty sure Fig has already started to plan out the signs we’re all gonna be holding,” Riz says, “I don’t think I could miss them even if I tried.”

“Good,” Fabian nods, and though Riz can’t quite place why, he feels a small tug of disappointment when Fabian turns his attention back to his notepad once again. A small voice in the back of his mind reminds him that eventually, he has to let Fabian know that his mom is coming back tomorrow. Part of him (a part of him he doesn’t like to focus on very much) just wants to ignore that voice and pretend that nothing is changing and Fabian will just continue to spend time with him, even though he would technically have no real reason to. 

“You wanna order food or something?” Fabian asks him after a moment, glancing up at Riz, still hovering awkwardly near the couch. 

“My mom is coming home tomorrow,” Riz blurts out. Fabian looks at him, confusion evident, before something clicks and he realizes what Riz is _really_ telling him. 

“Oh,” Fabian says, nodding slowly. 

“So, you don’t have to, you know…stay with me anymore,” Riz plows forward, despite the fact that the expression on Fabian’s face has suddenly become very hard to read. 

“Right,” Fabian says, but Riz interrupts again. 

“I just mean, I know the construction on Seacaster Manor is finishing up and now that my mom is coming home there’s no reason for you to-”

“For me to do what _?_ ” Fabian asks, a bit incredulous. Riz immediately wonders if something he said just came out wrong, but he doesn’t give himself any time to dwell, determined to get this conversation over with as fast as possible 

“For you to stay here,” Riz finishes. Fabian looks at him for a beat before standing abruptly, notepad falling to the floor. Riz’s stomach does a strange flip. A new, much louder voice suddenly pipes up in his head, telling him that he needs to get Fabian to stay, needs to tell him that he doesn’t want him to leave. Riz feels like he might puke. 

“I should get going, then,” Fabian says. 

“I mean the only reason you were here in the first place is because you thought I couldn’t be alone, right?” Riz tries for a smile, but he can hear his own voice waver, “You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

“I was never _worried_ The Ball, I just…” Fabian lets out a frustrated sigh, snatching up his Owl Bears jacket from the couch beside him. 

“What?” Riz asks, aware of the voice in his head growing more and more panicked at the thought of Fabian walking out the door. 

“You know, you’re allowed to let people into your life without totally freaking out!” Fabian exclaims, and Riz takes a step back, surprised. 

“I’m not _freaking out_ ,” Riz insists, unconsciously crossing his arms tightly over his chest, “Look, you’re the one who thought I needed someone to…take care of me or whatever. I don’t need that, ok? I’m not a child-”

“God, The Ball, I know that!” Fabian throws up his arms, clearly frustrated.

“And I don’t need you here because you-” Riz continues, voice rising. 

“Because I what?” Fabian interrupts, his voice suddenly quiet. 

“Because you pity me,” Riz responds, and all of the anger drains from his body in one breath. Riz can feel his arms slacken, and he lets them fall to his side once more.

“I wasn’t…I didn’t…” Fabian begins, but he shuts his mouth sharply, his expression changing abruptly, “You know what? Forget it.” 

Riz watches, still partially in shock, as Fabian heads for the door, stopping himself just before he leaves. 

“You know, Riz,” Fabian says, turning back to face him, “if you think the only thing I feel for you is _pity_ than I have to wonder why the fuck we’re even friends.”

And with that, Fabian leaves, shutting the door sharply behind him. Riz collapses onto the couch, curling his hands into fists and pressing them hard against his closed eyes, trying to will his tears back into his skull. Silence settles over the office, oppressive and complete. 

Riz doesn’t sleep the whole night. 

His mom arrives home early the next morning, and Riz heads back to Strongtower to greet her. She wraps him in a tight hug and promises to tell him all about the class when she’s less exhausted.

“Have you been sleeping alright, kiddo?” She asks before heading towards her room, intent on catching up on some of the sleep she’s been sorely missing. Riz is sure he looks like a bit of a mess; the bags under his eyes are pronounced and his hands are jittering from the sheer amount of coffee he had to drink in order to get himself up and moving that morning. 

“Uh, yeah. I had some good nights,” Riz assures, and even though he isn’t lying, it still feels like he isn’t really telling the truth. But, at that moment, he isn’t sure how the broach the subject with his mother that he only really slept well when Fabian was next to him, so just leaves it at that. Sklonda nods, clearly unconvinced, but too tired to argue. She gives him a kiss on his forehead and tells him to wake her in a few hours before she heads to her room, shutting the door behind her. Riz shuffles into the living room and falls onto the couch, his whole body aching with exhaustion. 

A few minutes later, a knock sounds at the front door. Riz stands, trying to ignore the sharp jolt of hope that rises in his chest. He shoves it down as soon as it emerges, trying his best to erase any thought of Fabian from his mind. 

When he opens the door, Gorgug is smiling at him from the other side, holding up an orange. 

“Gorgug?” Riz asks, a bit surprised to see his friend. 

“Can I come in?” Gorgug asks. 

“Yeah, sure,” Riz steps backs, letting Gorgug into the apartment. “Do you wanna sit?” 

Gorgug nods, settling on the couch. Riz pulls up a chair to sit by him, and Gorgug holds out the orange, offering it to Riz. Slowly, Riz takes it. 

“I heard you were sad,” Gorgug gestures to the orange, “so I thought-”

“Thank you, Gorgug,” Riz says, examining the fruit in his hand, “but, who said I was sad?”

“Well, Fabian was sad when Fig saw him earlier today, and she told Adaine, who told Kristen, who said it was probably because you two got in a fight.”

“How could she possibly have known that?” Riz asks, but Gorgug just shrugs. 

“Anyway, she told me. So I got you an orange,” he finishes. 

“That’s really nice of you, Gorgug, but I’m not sad,” Riz insists. 

“But you did get in a fight with Fabian?” 

Riz is taken aback by the earnestness of Gorgug’s question. He seems genuinely concerned.

“Well, yeah, but it’s fine,” Riz stares down at the orange in his lap, suddenly unable to meet his friend’s eyes, “friends fight sometimes.”

“That’s true,” Gorgug nods, expression thoughtful. “but it still really sucks. I mean, I know it’s not the same, but whenever Zelda and I fight, I get really bummed out.”

“But you and Zelda are dating,” Riz says, a bit self-conscious at the thought of Gorgug relating his and Fabian’s problems to ones he may have with his girlfriend. 

“Yeah, but she’s still my friend,” Gorgug says with a shrug, “I mean, friendship and romance aren’t really that different.”

“They feel really different,” Riz murmurs, suddenly remembering the vision he had back in the forest. He shifts in his chair uncomfortably, very aware of Gorgug’s eyes on him. 

“Look,” Gorgug begins, “when we were out on the van boat, and Zelda was mad at me, I just couldn’t stop thinking about how the fact that it sucked that she was mad at me, but what _really_ bothered me was how careless I’d been with her heart. It was like…the whole time I’d been holding something really small in my hand and all of a sudden I looked down and found out I’d been crushing it without even meaning to.” 

“But none of that was your fault,” Riz says, “you honestly forgot.” 

“It’s not really about whose _fault_ it is, though,” Gorgug says, frowning slightly, “what matters is that I was careless. And love is all about taking care of someone, and letting them take care of you in return.” 

Riz just stares at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. He can’t help but think of Fabian; offering him a ride home when he was drunk, making sure he ate everyday, staying with him the night after the party and then every night after that. Gorgug smiles. 

“We all take care of each other. That’s kind of the point, right?” 

Riz nods, thinking of the picture hung up on his office wall, of Kristen leaning against him at the party, of Adaine pouring over clues with him in the van boat, of Fig looking out for him in Hell, of Gorgug and his orange. 

“I think I might’ve been a huge idiot,” Riz finally says, and then laughs despite himself. Gorgug nods solemnly. 

“We’ve all been there,” he assures, “but I don’t think it’s anything you can’t fix.”

Riz nods. Slowly, Gorgug stands up. 

“I should go. I gotta help my parents work on some satellite repairs.”

“Thank you, Gorgug,” Riz stands as well, balancing on top of the chair so he’s able to wrap his arms around Gorgug’s neck in a brief hug, “I mean it.”

“You’re welcome,” Gorgug returns the hug, and when Riz pulls back, Gorgug is grinning at him. “See you at the party this weekend?”

“Oh my God, I almost forget,” Riz shakes his head in disbelief. 

“We need you there to celebrate Gilear’s neck being free again,” Gorgug insists. 

“I’ll be there,” Riz assures his friend. With a wave and a final promise to see him in a few days, Gorgug heads out. 

Riz tries to ignore the rising pit of dread in his stomach at the thought of going to Fabian’s place and seeing him again. He eats his orange, and to his great surprise, it really does start to make him feel better. 

That weekend, Riz spends a solid forty-five minutes pacing around his room before he finally works up the courage to leave his house. He asks his mom to drive him to Seacaster Manor. Sklonda obliges, of course, and in her infinite kindness, doesn’t even ask that many questions when it takes Riz five whole minutes to get out of the car once they arrive. 

Once he’s finally standing in front of the domineering house, Riz feels a wave of nausea come over him. He tries to reassure himself that everyone on the other side of the door is his friend, but then he catches a glimpse of Fabian in one of the house’s windows, and he has to sit down on the front steps to calm himself down. 

“Riz?” Riz is surprised to hear a voice come from behind him. He turns around to see Fig, the door half open behind her, staring quizzically down at her friend. 

“Oh, uh, hey,” Riz greets her weakly, giving a small wave. Fig frowns, settling down on the step next to him, the front door closing behind her. 

“Did you just get here?” She asks.

“Yeah,” Riz shrugs, “I’m, uh, fashionably late.”

“Right,” Fig nods slowly, clearly not buying it. “You ok?”

“I’m fine, I just…” he trails off slightly, glancing back in the direction of the door. 

“Look, you don’t have to explain to me whatever it is you’re going through,” Fig places a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “but from one person terrified of intimacy to another?”

“I’m not terrified of intimacy,” Riz insists. Fig raises an eyebrow at him. Riz sighs, letting his head collapse into his hands, wondering how his friends all ended up being so damn perceptive. 

“You’d be stupid to not be terrified,” Fig says, and Riz looks up at her in surprise, “I mean, we’ve literally been to hell and back, but you know what? None of that scared me more than the idea of dating Ayda. I mean, someone deciding that they want to be close to me, that they want to get to know me, _that’s_ what had me scared shitless.”

“That _is_ scary,” Riz says. Fig nods, half-smiling, and leans over to ruffle her friends’s hair.

“Yeah, but so is anything worth doing,” she says with a wink, and stands up again, offering Riz her hand. “Ready to go inside?” 

Riz stares at her for a moment, and before he can think better of it, reaches out and takes her hand. 

Inside, the party is already in full swing. He knew the Bad Kids would all be attendance, as well as Gilear as the guest of honor, but he’s surprised to see just how full the main foyer of the house is. There are a ton of other students from Aguefort, including the entirety of the Owl Bears team, the Seven Maidens, and a few other students Riz thinks he vaguely recognizes as being from the theater department. Riz even spots Gorthalax helping to hang up a banner across the back wall that reads “CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING YOUR NECK BRACE OFF!” in big, black letters. 

He doesn’t find Fabain right away. Once he’s inside, he’s drawn into a conversation with Ayda and Adaine almost immediately about their progress on their party potion. 

“It’s still in the early stages of development,” Adaine explains. 

“But we’ve made some big strides since our last…rager?” Ayda asks. Adaine nods, affirming her correct usage of the word. 

“Aelwyn helped a lot,” Adaine grins, straightening up and waving to her sister across the room. Aelwyn, tucked against the back wall, looks up and waves back before resuming her conversation with Sam. “She’s been to a shit ton of parties, so her expertise was appreciated.”

“And many of the tomes from Compass Point have proved to be very useful,” Ayda says, “we have a lot of literature solely about getting very fucked up.” 

Mid-conversation, the music suddenly picks up, and Riz sees Fig back behind the makeshift DJ station, demanding over a mega-phone that everyone had better get to the dance floor, or there will be dire consequences. Ayda grabs both of their hands and tugs them forward. 

“You heard my scary and beautiful girlfriend!” She shouts over the din of the music, “time to dance!” 

Kristen finds them in the crowd not long after that, drinks in hand, and Gorgug and Zelda join them as well. At one point, Fig tugs Gilear up on stage with her, and tries to make him crowd-surf. Gilear, of course, faints on the spot, and Gorthalax has to carry him off to some place more quiet. 

Though Riz isn’t actively trying to scan the crowd for Fabian, he can’t help but spot him when he emerges from the back of the dance floor and heads upstairs, in the direction of his bedroom on the second floor. Slowly, trying not to bring attention to himself amidst the chaos, Riz slips away from his friends and heads upstairs. 

Fabian’s room is quiet when Riz slowly pushes the door open. For a moment, he thinks his eyes must have played a trick on him, and Fabian isn’t actually in here at all. Then, on the far side of the room, he sees the doors to the balcony are open. Quietly, Riz walks across the room, stopping short when he finally sees Fabian, leaning against the railing, eyes focused on the horizon. Riz clears his throat. Fabian’s head snaps around. 

“The Ball?” Fabian asks. Riz can’t help but smile at the familiar nickname. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he says, still a few steps away from the balcony, trying to give Fabian ample opportunity to tell him to fuck off, just in case. To Riz’s surprise, Fabian just offers him a lopsided smile and motions for Riz to come join him outside. 

Outside, the hot summer air begins to give way to a cool breeze, making Riz wrap his arms tightly around himself. Fabian’s gaze returns to the horizon, and for a moment, Riz just stands there, watching his friend in the half-light. 

“The house looks great,” Riz finally says, and Fabian turns to look at him, “after all the construction, I mean.”

Fabian clears his throat abruptly, ducking his head down to intently examine his shoes. 

“Yeah, about that…” he trails off, glancing at Riz. 

“What?” Riz asks. 

“I might’ve…told a small lie,” Fabian says, the tips of his cheeks darkening slightly. Riz raises an eyebrow. “There wasn’t exactly any construction on the house.”

“Oh,” Riz nods, and then, despite himself, lets out a small laugh. 

“What?” Fabian demands, and Riz just shakes his head, enthralled by the embarrassed blush rising on his friend’s face. 

“I just…I think I might be a horrible detective, because you were a _really_ bad liar,” Riz says. 

“I wasn’t _that_ bad!” Fabian insists. 

“Oh, I should’ve know _immediately_ ,” Riz laughs. 

“Well, if you knew why didn’t you say anything?” Fabian asks, expression finally cracking into a smile. 

“I guess I just wanted you to stay,” Riz admits with a shrug. A silence falls, and Riz can hear the muffled shouts and heavy bass thump from the party below. He sighs, leaning against the railing of the balcony. 

“Actually, uh, the reason I came up here is-” he pauses, looking to Fabian once more, trying to gauge his reaction, “I wanted to say I’m sorry. You were right. I did kind of freak out.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Fabian murmurs, “I mean, I’m sorry too.”

“It was stupid for me to get all defensive,” Riz continues, “Gorgug gave me some advice-”

“He did?” Fabian asks. 

“He’s actually really wise,” Riz says with a small smile. 

“Oh, I know that,” Fabian waves a hand, like Gorgug’s wisdom is common knowledge to him.

“Basically, he just reminded me that we take care of each other, and that that’s kind of the whole point, and it made me realize that I’d been a total asshole,” Riz finishes, feeling slightly drunk, despite the total lack of alcohol in his body. Maybe the height of the balcony was just making him dizzy.

“The point of what?” Fabian asks after a moment. 

“I don’t know,” Riz admits, “of everything, I think. To take care of people and to let them take care of you.”

“Because we’re friends?” Fabian asks, and maybe Riz is imagining it, maybe the altitude is playing tricks on him, but he can feel Fabian move closer to him, like the magnetic pole in the center of his chest has shifted and Fabian has suddenly entered into his orbit. 

“Yeah,” Riz nods, feeling very distracted, his voice barely above a whisper, “wait, what do you-?”

At that moment, the door to Fabian’s room bursts open and a few Owl Bears stumble inside, cursing to themselves. 

“Shit, man, sorry!” One of them calls out, waving a hand apologetically. 

“We thought this was the bathroom!” Another one shouts, before dissolving into a peal of laughter, dragging his teammates out by the back of their collars. Riz watches, a bit stunned, as Fabian straightens up and paints on a smile.

“Well, we should probably get back to the party,” he says briskly.

Fabian is already half-way out the door when a thought finally enters Riz’s head, slowly and stubbornly, like a window he has to force open. It itches the back of his neck, and when he turns around, he sees Fabian, walking out of his bedroom door and back in the direction of the party below. 

“Fabian, wait!” Riz rushes forward, but Fabian has a bit of head start, so when Riz finally catches him, it’s on one of the house’s many staircases. “Fabian, stop, please.”

Riz sees Fabian stop short, but when he does turn around, he doesn’t meet Riz’s eyes. Riz remembers the party at Modred Manor, as he finds himself once again staring _down_ at Fabian. The same feeling washes over him, making him feel brave and very, _very_ stupid. 

“I think I get it now,” Riz murmurs.  
“Get what?” Fabian asks, trepidation clear on his face. Riz grins, and when his stomach gives a nervous lurch, he ignores it, and remembers what Fig said about scary things being worth it.

“Why you said all that stuff to me at the party. Why you stayed with me,” Riz says. 

“Because we’re friends,” Fabian responds.

“Yeah,” Riz nods, coming to stand at the lip of step, bringing himself closer to Fabian. “But, you know, a really wise half-orc once told me that friendship and romance aren’t really _that_ different.”

Riz is so focused on Fabian, still standing unmoving in front of him, that everything around him slows to a halt. He can barely here the party raging on the floor below. Then, slowly, the corner of Fabian’s lips begins to tug upwards

“That…sounds like a really wise thing to say,” Fabian murmurs. 

“You think so?” Riz asks, unable to stop the grin from spreading across his face. 

“Yeah, I do,” and in one swift movement, Fabian closes the distance between them. 

The world around Riz disappears entirely, and everything narrows down to the fact that Fabian is here, kissing him, wrapping his hands around his waist, and tugging him in closer so Riz almost loses balance on the stairs. Riz tries not to focus too hard on the fact that this is his _first_ _ever_ kiss, and he might not be doing it right, and instead devote the entirety of his attention to how warm his chest feels, pressed up against Fabian’s, and how much he wants to keep kissing him. Fabian turns his head slightly, and Riz feels his lips move against his own, and before he even registers what he’s doing, his hands move up and knot themselves through Fabian’s hair. 

“I, uh,” Fabian says when he pulls back, his face so close that Riz can feel his breath ghost along his cheek, “think I get it now too.”

“Good to know we’re on the same page,” Riz smiles, places a hand on the back of Fabian’s neck, and pulls him in again. 

When they return to the party a few minutes later, no one comments on their absence. Well, Kristen shoots Riz a rather blatant wink and elbows Fig in the side when she catches sight of them, but no one says anything _out loud_. 

The party begins to wind down eventually, people stumbling out through the doors of Seacaster Manor into the night in varying states of composure. At one point, Riz catches Gorgug saying goodnight to Zelda, leaning down and giving her a soft kiss, which makes the rest of the Seven Maidens erupt in a chorus of ‘ _awwws_!’ before they drag Zelda away. 

“Fun party?” Adaine asks when she finds him sitting underneath the large banner, which over the course of the night had been vandalized to read “CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING OFF!” 

“Fun party,” Riz affirms. “How’s the potion coming along?”

“We’ve hit a bit of a wall,” Adaine admits with a shrug, “but tonight was still the most fun I’ve had in a really long time.”

“I’m sure you’ll make a break through soon,” Riz assures her, and she smiles warmly, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jean jacket. 

“By the way,” she says after a brief pause, “I thought you mind need this.”

Riz is surprised to look over and see Adaine holding up a small packet of gum, clearly retrieved from the depths of her jacket. 

“Uh, thanks?” He takes the packet, puzzling over it. 

“I mean, it might come in handy, considering all the kissing you’re doing,” Adaine finally breaks, grinning (a bit evilly) at Riz. 

“How the hell did you find out already?” Riz groans.

“We had our suspicions, but thanks for confirming them!” Adaine jumps up, practically bouncing with excitement. “Everyone is gonna _freak_ when I tell them!” 

Riz opens his mouth to argue, but shuts it abruptly when Adaine leans down and plants a swift kiss on his cheek. 

“I’m _so_ happy for you Riz,” she beams, and takes off to track down the rest of their friends. Riz sits there, fighting back a smile, until Fabian finds him a few moments later.

“So, Adaine give you a magically retrieved packet of gum too?” Fabian asks as he settles beside him. 

“Yup,” Riz confirms, holding the packet aloft and gesturing between himself and Fabian, “guess we can’t even try to keep this a secret.”

“I wouldn’t want that,” Fabian says, and Riz is taken aback by how earnest his tone is, “would you?” 

“No,” Riz shakes his head, and he means it. 

“Good,” Fabian shoots him a relaxed smile, “I like when we’re on the same page.”

Riz rolls his eyes, bumping Fabian lightly with his shoulder. 

“That reminds me…” Riz begins, furrowing his brow seriously, “uh, there’s construction on Strongtower Luxury Apartments tonight.”

“You’re kidding?” Fabian lets out a dramatic, faux-gasp. 

“Yup. And my office too. Loud, _loud_ construction,” Riz turns to him, grinning. 

“I mean…I guess you could stay here tonight,” Fabian shrugs, all casual, though Riz can tell he’s fighting a smile, “only as a favor to you, of course.”

“Of course,” Riz agrees. He wants to say something else, but when he looks at Fabian, all thoughts fly out of his head, and all he can do is smile. 

“What?” Fabian asks after a moment. “Do I have something on my face?”

Riz thinks back to the first night Fabian stayed with him, how it felt when he was lying beside him. Slowly, Riz reaches out and brushes some of Fabian’s hair out of his face. 

“Fabian,” he murmurs. 

“Riz,” Fabian replies, and somewhere, deep in his chest, Riz feels something click into place and open. He stands up, hovering over Fabian, unsure how to articulate all the thoughts in his head, and places his hands on either side of Fabian’s jaw. Without a word, Riz leans down and kisses him. 

If their friends, still crowded by the front doors of the house, happen to see them and let out a few _whoops_ in the background, Riz is too preoccupied to take notice. 

Later, before they fall asleep, Riz reaches over and presses his hand flat against the expanse of Fabian’s chest. For a moment, Riz just lies there, feeling the warmth beneath his palm, and thinks of that glowing light from his dream, all those nights ago. Then, without a word, Fabian’s hand settles over his own.

It’s the best night of sleep Riz has ever gotten. 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twitter @/swiftiefabian <3


End file.
